2 Kings 17

2 KINGS CHAPTER 17

Israel’s King Hoshea

• • • In the 12^th year of the reign of Judah’s King Ahaz, Elah’s son Hoshea became king over Israel in Samaria. He reigned for 9 years. He did evil in Yahweh’s eyes, but not to the same extent as the kings of Israel who preceded him. Assyria’s King Shalmaneser attacked him, so Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found out that Hoshea was conspiring against him- he had sent messengers to Egypt’s King So and he failed to send in his annual tribute to Assyria as had been done in previous years. Therefore, the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded the land, marched to Samaria, and besieged it for 3 years. In the 9^th year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible notes, “Hoshea began to rule over Israel in 732 BC. Hoshea’s rule is listed as beginning ‘in the twentieth year of Jotham’ (15:30) and in the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign in Judah. Ahaz apparently co-reigned with Jotham from about 743 BC, when he was twelve years old, but Ahaz’s official regnal years were calculated from 731 BC (16:2). Thus the references to Ahaz’s reign are in harmony.”

• • • • ESV Archaeology Study Bible writes:

• • • • “Hoshea was the last ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel (732-722 BC). His name appears on a beautifully carved scarab seal scholars have dated to the eighth century BC. The inscription, written in paleo-Hebrew characters, reads, ‘Belonging to Abdi, servant of Hoshea.’ The figures stance, kilt, papyrus-shaped scepter, and winged sun disk show Egyptian influence.”

• • • • “Hoshea had reestablished his vassal status with Tiglath-pileser III’s successor, Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), but later reneged and courted Egypt instead, bringing the wrath of the Assyrian king. Shalmaneser imprisoned Hoshea and besieged the capital of Samaria. This event is recorded both here and in the Babylonian Chronicle, which states succinctly, ‘On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Tebet, Shalmaneser (V) ascended the throne in Assyria and Akkad. He ravaged Samaria…’ The identity of So, king of Egypt is a matter of debate. The pharaoh in question may have been Osorkon IV (730-715 BC), the last pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty, whose name, according to Egyptologists, could have reasonably been shortened to ‘So.’”

• • • • “…The places of exile mentioned in this verse (Halah, the Habor, the river of Gazon, and the cities of the Medes) are scattered widely over the Assyrian Empire, from the western to the eastern borders.”

Israel Exiled Because of Sin

• • • This happened because the Israelites had sinned against Yahweh their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and out from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods, followed the practices of the nations that Yahweh had driven out before them as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites said things about Yahweh their God that were not true, they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. They burned incense on the high places just like the nations whom Yahweh had driven out before them had done. Their evil practices provoked Yahweh to anger. They served idols of which Yahweh had said to them, “You must not do this.”

• • • • Guzik says, “In the following verses, the divine historian explains the fundamental reasons for the conquering and captivity of the Northern Kingdom. At the root, it was a problem with sin. It wasn’t geopolitical changes or social causes – it was sin. In the central act of redemption in Old Testament history, God brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt. Remembrance of this act alone should prompt Israel to a single-hearted commitment to the LORD. Yet they did not remember this and instead they feared other gods, breaking the covenant God made with His people. However, the kingdom of Israel had feared other gods since their founding some 200 years before this. This shows us another principle of God’s judgment: It is often a long time in coming, because God holds back His judgment as long as possible. Before Israel occupied Canaan in the days of Joshua, the Promised Land was populated by degenerate, pagan peoples who practiced the worst kinds of idolatry and human sacrifice. One of the fundamental sins of Israel was that they followed in these ancient Canaanite ways. God cast out the Canaanite nations in the days of Joshua because of these sins. Now He had cast out the Northern Kingdom of Israel for the same sins. God’s judgment was not against the ancient Canaanites because of race or ethnicity; it was because of their conduct. As Israel shared the same conduct, they would share the same judgment.”

• • • • There is debate over the meaning of verse 9. I opted for essentially following NET Bible’s translation, but found the following sources helpful in shedding light on potential interpretations and nuance of meaning:

• • • • • NET Bible’s text critical notes say, “The meaning of the verb …(vaykhappʾu), translated here ‘said,’ is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root…(khafah), ‘to cover,’ and translate ‘they did it in secret…However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning ‘ascribe, impute,’ which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support…In this case Israel claimed that the Lord authorized their pagan practices.”

• • • • • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges writes, “The verb here used occurs nowhere else in the Bible, though one apparently cognate, and differing only by a single letter, is found several times. This latter is used of covering the head, and also of covering walls with gold to look more beautiful than the bare stone would do. From the first notion comes the sense ‘they did secretly’ which both A.V. and R.V. prefer. Others, with the LXX…, think that the meaning probably is ‘they decked out’ their worship, employed things alien to the simplicity of the Mosaic ordinances, viz. the high places, pillars and Asherim of which mention is made in the next clauses.”

• • • • • Barnes’ Notes on the Bible writes, “Literally, the words run thus – ‘And the children of Israel concealed (or “dissembled”) words which were not so concerning the Lord their God;’ the true meaning of which probably is, the Israelites cloaked or covered their idolatry with the pretence that it was a worship of Yahweh: they glossed it over and dissembled toward God, instead of openly acknowledging their apostasy.”

• • • • ESV Study Bible notes, “The people of Israel worshiped false gods from watchtower to fortified city (i.e., from the smallest to the largest place where people lived)…”

• • • Yet Yahweh warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and seer saying, “Turn away from your evil ways. Obey My commandments and statutes in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors, and that I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they stiffened their necks like the necks of their ancestors who didn’t trust in Yahweh their God. They rejected His statutes, His covenant that He had made with their ancestors, and the warnings He had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They imitated the practices of the nations around them that Yahweh had commanded them, “Do not do as they do.” They abandoned the commandments of Yahweh their God. They made two metal calves and an Asherah pole for themselves. They worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. They sacrificed their children in the fire, practiced divination, and interpreted omens. They sold themselves to doing what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, provoking Him to anger.

• • • • Guzik writes, “In love, God sent prophets to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Their message was a warning against the sins that corrupted God’s people and separated them from their God. They invited God’s people with the theme, ‘Turn from your evil ways.’ God sent these messengers to help Israel and to spare them the judgment that would come if they did not turn from their evil ways. Yet God’s people became more stubborn when God brought this call to repentance, and they sank deeper into sin. When God brings judgment, He first brings warning – and often many warnings over a long period. It is only after these warnings are rejected that the judgment comes.”

      • On the metaphor of the Israelites stiffening their necks, Guzik cites Poole, “Refused to submit their neck to the yoke of God’s precepts; a metaphor from stubborn oxen, that make their necks hard, or stiff, and will not bow to the yoke.”

• • • • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible writes, “The catalog of Israel’s sin includes numerous pagan rites and practices…Many were even initiated by Israel’s kings who built pagan shrines, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles and emulated heathen sacrifices and idolatry…All levels of Israelite society, royalty and commoner alike, persisted in such sins despite denunciation and warning by God’s prophets, which included the writings of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah…The narrator lists specific examples of Israel’s disobedience: the two calves made from metal erected at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:28-30), the Canaanite fertility symbol known as an Asherah pole (2 Kgs 13:6; 17:10; 1 Kgs 14:23; 16:33; Mic 5:14), the persistent worship of Baal (1 Kgs 16:31-33; Hos 2:13; 13:1), and the detestable Molech rites (2 Kgs 16:3; Ps 106:37).”

• • • • ESV Study Bible adds, “…Interestingly, however, some of the sins listed are not those of Israel only but also of Judah, which is drawn into the condemnation. Only in the account of Ahaz’s reign have the authors mentioned child sacrifice (2 Kgs 17:17; cf 16:3) and divination (cf 16:15); and only when they reach Manasseh’s reign will the authors tell of omens (cf 21:6) and worship of the host of heaven (17:16; cf 21:3)…”

• • • • In verse 16, the Hebrew narrator tells us that they were worshiping all the “host of heaven.” Some translations go so far to define this “host of heaven’ as the sun, moon, and starts that they replace “host of heaven” with “all the starry hosts” (NIV), “all the heavenly bodies” (CEB), etc. Most commentaries explicitly define this “host of heaven” as the sun, moon, and stars. However, as NET Bible points out, the word translated as “heavenly host” is the Hebrew “hashamayim,” and this is the same word used in 1 Kings 22:19, which they admit in that context, “are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly…” Therefore, I consider Heiser’s comment in note number 20, page 356, of his book “The Unseen Realm,” to be much more accurate than most commentaries on this verse. He writes, “The phrase ‘host of heaven’ is at times used as frequent generic designation for divine beings- members of the nonterrestrial world, good or evil…However, it is distinctly associated with those lesser elohim set over the nations who are enemies of Yahweh and his people (Deut 4:19: 17:3).”

• • • Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel and He removed them from his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. Even Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God. They followed the practices that Israel had introduced. So Yahweh rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and gave them into the hands of plunderers until He had cast them from His sight.

• • • • Guzik writes, “This was the end of the ten northern tribes as an independent kingdom. When they were dispersed by the Assyrians, some assimilated into other cultures, but others kept their Jewish identity as exiles in other lands. Yet, it is a mistake to think of these ten northern tribes as lost. Far back in the days of Jeroboam and his original break with the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the legitimate priests and Levites who lived in the northern ten tribes did not like Jeroboam’s idolatry. They, along with others who set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel, then moved from the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Southern Kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 11:13-16). So actually, the Southern Kingdom of Judah contained Israelites from all of the ten tribes. Considering all this, we can say that the ten northern tribes were not lost, and they certainly did not migrate to Britain in accord with some British-Israelite theories. Some (in particular, the godly of that day) migrated to the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the days of Jeroboam I. Some assimilated into other cultures. Some kept their Jewish culture and identity in the lands of their exile. Spiritually speaking, Judah was more faithful to God than the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Yet they also began to imitate their sinful neighbors to the north. Judah had the lesson right in front of them – the conquered nation of Israel was evidence of what happened when hearts turned from God. Yet they ignored these plain lessons and imitated the sins of Israel.

• • • When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Nebat’s son Jeroboam their king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following Yahweh and caused them to commit great sin. The Israelites persisted in all of Jeroboam’s sins and didn’t turn away from them. Finally, Yahweh removed Israel from His sight just as He had warned that He would do through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was taken from their homeland and exiled in Assyria where they remain to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

• • • Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. When they first moved in they didn’t worship Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them. It was reported to the king of Assyria, “The people you deported and resettled in Samaria’s cities don’t know the laws of the god of the land. So he has sent lions among them, which are killing them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.” So the king of Assyria commanded, “Send one of the priests you deported from the land back to live there and teach the people the law of the god of the land.” So one of the priests who had been exiled came and lived at Bethel, and he taught them how to worship Yahweh.

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible says, “Not only were the Israelites exiled to other places held by the Assyrians…but groups of people were sent to settle in Israel. By mixing diverse peoples, the Assyrians hoped to have better control of the resulting population and transfer their loyalties to Assyria. Samaria became the official name of the new Assyrian province.”

• • • • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible provides more context, “The ruins of ancient Babylon lie in the suburbs of modern Baghdad in Iraq. In the second half of the eighth century BC, and for most of the seventh, Babylonia was under Assyrian control, although the region was the focal point of frequent unrest and the target of frequent Assyrian military campaigns designed to restore order. The most notable of the anti-Assyrian agitators in Babylonia in the late eighth century BC was Marduk-apla-iddina II, who appears in 20:12-19 as Marduk-Baladan. When Sargon II ascended the Assyrian throne in 722 BC, Marduk-Baladan had himself crowned king at Babylon. It is the ongoing attempts to depose Marduk-Baladan that provide a possible context for deportations to the cities of Samaria from Babylon and Kuthah (commonly identified with Tell Ibra-him, 20 miles northeast of Babylon).”

• • • • Guzik writes, “This shows that there was not only something special about the kingdom of Israel, but also something special about the land of Israel. God demanded to be feared among the people of the land, even if they came from other nations…The priesthood of the kingdom of Israel was corrupt, but the king of Assyria did not know and was not interested in the pure religion of Israel. Therefore this nameless, corrupt priest taught the new inhabitants of the land a corrupt religion.”

• • • Nevertheless, the people of each nation made their own gods in the cities that they settled in, and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made. The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, the people from Kuthah made Nergal, the people from Hamath made Ashima, the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also worshiped Yahweh. They appointed priests of all sorts of people from among themselves to serve for them in the shrines on the high places. So they worshiped Yahweh, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

• • • • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says, “The only deities in this list who are clearly known from other sources are the West Semitic god Ashima and the Mesopotamian god Nergal, who was an underworld god associated with famine, drought, plague, and death and whose cult was centered in the city of Kuthah. The combination Sukkoth Benoth alludes at least to the goddess Banitu and possibly also to Sakkut (Nintura). Nibhaz and Tartak may be Elamite deities, while Adrammelek and Anammelek may be Phoenician and Emarite gods, respectively.”

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “Hebrew faith, already blended with the religion of Jeroboam I, was now mixed with many different foreign religious customs. Genuine worship of the Lord virtually disappeared. Only a handful of faithful Israelites remained to respond to Hezekiah’s later invitation to come to Judah for the Passover celebration (2 Chr 30:10-19).”

• • • To this day they persist in their former practices. The don’t worship Yahweh or adhere to the statutes, ordinances, law, and commandments that Yahweh commanded the descendants of Jacob, whom He named Israel. Yahweh had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You must not worship other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. Instead, worship Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. To Him you are to bow down and offer sacrifices. You must always be careful to obey the statues, ordinances, laws, and commandments that He wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant that I made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship Yahweh your God, because it is He who will rescue you from the hands of your enemies.” But they didn’t listen. They persisted in their former practices instead. They worshiped Yahweh, but continued to serve their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “According to Israel’s covenant with the Lord (Exod 20:5; Deut 6:4-15), Israel was to worship only the Lord. He alone could provide true redemption and rescue them from all…enemies. The reconstituted Samaritan religion was thoroughly syncretistic (an electic combination of religions), perhaps explaining why Samaritans were later regarded with suspicion and disdain (see Neh 4:1-2; 10:28-31; John 4:7-9).”

• • • • Guzik remarks, “The area of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was not re-occupied by Judah before their own subjugation and conquest by the Babylonian empire. This mixed religion first promoted by the Assyrians continued for many centuries in Samaria, existing even until New Testament times. It seems that God was more lenient with these Samaritans of corrupt belief than He was with disobedient Israel. This teaches us that those with more revelation from God are held to stricter account before Him. Yet, 2 Chronicles 30:10-19 shows us that in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, there were some worshippers of the true God among the area that was formerly the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Some responded to his invitation to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. The writer states this to remind us that if Israel had been faithful – even moderately faithful – to their covenant with God, they would still stand. God would have delivered them from all of their enemies. Instead, they were conquered by the Assyrian Empire after their own self-destruction in sin and rebellion.”

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